In view of the state panchayat elections due in February next year, the annual matriculation examinations for Odia-medium schools are unlikely to be held during the same time. To avoid the scorching summer, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha had been holding the matriculation examinations in February every year for the past several years.

“In view of the ensuing panchayat elections likely in February 2017, we will not be in a position to conduct the matriculation examination around the same time,” BSE President Sushant Das said.

More than six lakh students are likely to write the matriculation examination next year and these students and their parents are now a bit worried as the preparations for the examinations would hamper a lot in the month of February when the canvassing for the elections would be at its peak with noisy campaigning by the candidates in rural areas.